Leadership Lessons from the SANDLOT Part 2

Does everyone remember “Smalls”?   Smalls was the new kid on the block and he was trying to find his way into this new world, and it’s obvious he’s lived a sheltered life until now.  In this clip, “Ham” is frustrated with “Smalls” for his lack of knowledge of what tobacco is- What’s great about it, is that we all feel like Ham, probably a few times a week- heck, maybe even a few times a day- It goes like this:

Lori: “Hey Chris, can you check out this blog I found on the new consumer?”
Chris: “What’s a blog?  I’m not on social media.”
Lori: “You’re killing me smalls!”  (seriously, you are going to admit that?)

<iframe width=”560″ height=”315″ src=”https://www.youtube.com/embed/xs73-eVBu6I” frameborder=”0″ allowfullscreen></iframe>

Frustration is perfectly normal and a natural part of our world, but with all that’s going on in our lives, it sometimes pushes us over the edge.  Today, I’ve focused a few key leadership and life lessons on frustration and how to best deal with the “Smalls” in our life:

Leadership and Life

Lesson 1: You can learn something from everyone!
This is one thing I have found to be a highlight of my life.  It seems to make no difference if you are talking to a street cleaner, an older sunday school teacher, a taxi cab driver, or a physician, there is something to learn.  We all have been given gifts and if you listen and are open, everyone will teach you something.

Lesson 2: People can be UNKIND, love them anyway!
The infamous quote about “walking in someone elses moccasins” is really true.  We have to remember that everyone we encounter in a day has their own set of challenges they are dealing with – We usually won’t know what they are, but remember that and BE KIND despite the fact that people can sometimes truly not make any sense to us and in general seem to be out to get us or at minimum ruin our day… Love them anyway.

Lesson 3: It’s not personal!
When the people and situations around us don’t make sense and heighten our frustration, get our heart beating faster than it should when you aren’t working out….remember it’s not usually personal.  When I was younger, I would always think it was something I did.  I have learned in my middle-age  (haha) that almost 100 percent of the time I was not the genesis of their frusration and problem.  So, take a deep breath and move on.

After all… you can’t be the Sultant of Swat, or the Colossus of CLOUT if you are letting frustrations overwhelm you! I hope you all have an amazing day!